


A taste of struggle

by energie_vie



Series: Magnetic [9]
Category: The Old Guard (Comics), The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: F/M, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Mild Language, Mutual Pining, POV Nile Freeman, Pining, Post-Movie: The Old Guard (2020), Recreational Drug Use, Slow Burn, Strip Tease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:22:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27724105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/energie_vie/pseuds/energie_vie
Summary: "It's a thing they started almost three months ago, after two back-to-back missions that had been.. complicated, for lack of a better word. The kind that generally leaves them with a bitter taste in their mouths and slightly less faith in humanity. They had decided that once a month they would spend one night just winding down and having fun but the gist would be that each of them would have their turn in deciding how exactly that night would be spent."OR: Nile's night of wild fun.
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman
Series: Magnetic [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987831
Comments: 17
Kudos: 90





	A taste of struggle

**Author's Note:**

> This one was prompted by something Matthias Schoenaerts said: "They're like, the most dangerous gang of friends on the planet". So basically, this is what a gang of friends would do on a free Saturday night.
> 
> As usual, the title is taken from the song with the same name by A/T/O/S.
> 
> Spam time: for Booker and Nile's established relationship, feel free to jump to the [Gooey](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1983568) series, which is a sequel to this one.
> 
> EDIT: cover art at the end of the story by the wonderful StarWatcher.

'So what have you got in store for us, kid?' Andy asks over breakfast.

It's funny, Nile thinks, she absolutely hates it when anyone else calls her that but she doesn't mind it at all coming from Andy. Weird.

'I'm still weighing my options,' she replies vaguely, though she's known for at least a week what she wants to do.

It's a thing they started almost three months ago, after two back-to-back missions that had been.. complicated, for lack of a better word. The kind that generally leaves them with a bitter taste in their mouths and slightly less faith in humanity.

They had decided that once a month they would spend one night just winding down and having fun but the gist would be that each of them would have their turn in deciding how exactly that night would be spent. In true corporate fashion, they had agreed upon the last Saturday of every month, provided they aren't caught up in a mission.

Ladies first was the general consensus and Andy had played the age card, so she got the first pick. They had been in Berlin at the time, so she had chosen laser tag, followed by a night of bar hopping because apparently Andy, just like Booker, can't get drunk in a single place. The laser tag part had also been awesome. They had teamed up against the boys and Nile suspects Andy had actually been looking for an excuse to shoot at them.

Quynh had been next and her choice had been a marathon of horror movies. Now, Nile's not the biggest fan of the genre but she can handle them. Or so she'd thought. She has no idea what kind of research Quynh had done but she had picked four of the most fucked up movies ever. When bedtime had come, Nile had managed to resist alone in her bed for a measly thirty minutes before waking up from a freaky nightmare and invading Booker's.

'Seb, I think I might need you today,' she says after a few minutes.

'Don't you always?' he smiles innocently and Nile shakes her head at the assortment of groans and snickers from around the table.

'Christ, it's eight in the morning, give it a rest!'

'Andy, let them be,' Quynh says benevolently, which almost always means there's a snarky follow-up. 'I have a bet with Joe on when he starts pulling her hair,' she adds and they all start laughing.

'See what you've done?' she narrows her eyes at Booker.

'You baited me.'

'No, I didn't!'

'Children, no fighting at the table,' Nicky says seriously and there's another round of laughter.

' _Espece de pèc_!' she mutters grumpily, kicking Booker's leg under the table.

'Ow!'

'Was that Occitan?' Nicky asks in genuine surprise.

'Partially,' Nile replies, resolutely ignoring all the quirked eyebrows and sly smirks. 'You're driving me around today,' she continues, pointing her index finger at Booker in a no-nonsense fashion and looking straight into his eyes.

'I live to serve you, my dear,' Booker says seriously and holds her gaze unwaveringly.

'For the love of all that's holy, tone the eyefucking _down_ a bit!' Andy groans, snapping both of them out of their little bubble.

Nile feels herself heating up but Booker turns to Andy, grinning cheekily.

'Fine, we'll work on a schedule and submit it for your approval,' he says, which earns him a smack over the head.

If this is their normal interaction, Nile is starting to wonder if her plans for tonight are actually the best idea.

'So, when do you want me, dearest?' Booker asks casually, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

He has been playing with double entendres more and more over the past few months and despite her heart beating erratically each time, she's starting to derive an unhealthy amount of pleasure from every single one of them.

'As soon as possible,' she purrs, adding a naughty wink for good measure because she can play this game too.

Booker smiles her favourite smile, eyes alight with pure joy and drops his knife and fork to form a heart shape with his hands.

Andy facepalms audibly, Nicky and Quynh laugh and Joe, who's been on autopilot so far because he simply doesn't _do_ mornings, groans from behind half-closed eyelids.

'I don't even know which one of you is a worse influence on the other,' he mumbles.

'We take turns,' Nile quips. 'Now, come on, Seb, lots of stuff to do today.'

\---

After dinner, when the leftovers have been put away and the dishes have been done, Nile has them all sit down at the table and puts her backpack on the chair.

'Amaze me, kid,' Andy grins and leans back in her chair, hands crossed behind her head.

Nile pulls a poker set out of the backpack and places it in the middle of the table.

'Not bad, but pretty tame,' Andy says.

Nile just rolls her eyes and heads to the freezer from which she takes out a bottle of Grey Goose and hands it to Nicky to put it on the table.

'You went for the expensive stuff,' he remarks, clearly impressed, then laughs when she hands him another one. 

'Oh, this is gonna be _fun_!' Joe laughs and then promptly whistles when Nile hands Nicky a third bottle.

Andy smirks and nods her head approvingly and she's just about to say something when Nile cuts her off.

'I'm not done yet,' she smirks, casting a quick glance at Booker, who's grinning like the cat that got the cream and then plunges her hand in the backpack, fumbling around a bit.

'Come on, the suspense is killing us!' Joe laughs.

It takes her a couple more seconds to find what she's looking for but when she does, she theatrically throws the little bag on top of the poker set.

'No. Fucking. Way!'

'Oh my god, Joe, you _so_ owe me!' Nicky laughs.

'I really wasn't expecting this, but I'm definitely not complaining,' Quynh laughs and Andy just shakes her head and then slow claps.

'Kid, you make me very proud!' she exclaims with one hand on her heart, prompting everyone else to laugh. 'Lay down the rules.'

'Ok. Shots and weed to begin with. Some nice background music that _I_ get to choose because _it's my party and I'll cry if I want to_ ,' she switches to singing mid-sentence.

'Which means we're stuck listening to reggae or anything else that has a steady beat,' Booker interjects. 'Should have bought some green neon lights, too,' he adds and then ducks when Nile picks up a coaster and throws it his way.

'Oh, fuck off!'

'Wait a minute, how do _you_ know what music she'll play?' Joe asks, confused.

'It's her go-to whenever she's wasted or stoned. Or both,' Booker laughs.

'So you two have done this before. How come we're only hearing about this _now_? Hold on, is this about Lisbon?' Joe literally gasps.

'My lips are sealed.'

'And they'd better stay that way,' Nile interjects.

'You know, you being so intent on keeping that night a secret only makes our imagination go rampant,' Joe crosses his arms, but smiles nonetheless.

'That's the beauty of it,' she winks. 'Moving on. We play with chips, not money, because some of us, not giving names here, _Andy_ , are highly competitive and I'd very much prefer it if no one gets killed by the end of the night.'

'Weaklings,' Andy mutters disgruntedly.

'But,' Nile carries on, 'whoever loses all their chips gets a dare, if you will, from the rest of us and they're not allowed to refuse it.'

' _Now_ you're talking,' Andy grins.

'We'll keep them within the confines of reason and common sense, ok?'

'Yeah, yeah, of course.'

'Good. Now, I'll get the shot glasses, Seb, could you please start rolling?'

'One day you're gonna have to learn too, my dear.'

'What for? It's not like I'll ever smoke without you,' she says without really thinking and there's a chorus of _aaw_ from around the table.

Booker just shakes his head, flushing a little bit. They haven't even started smoking and she's already losing her brain-to-mouth filter. This is gonna be an interesting night.

\---

Three hours later, not one of them is even the tiniest bit sober. They're well into their second bottle of vodka, Quynh is lighting what's either the third or the fourth blunt and they've been abusing cigarettes so much that you can literally cut the smoke in the kitchen with a knife.

'It's good that we're in a safehouse with a kitchen with a door and not without a door,' Nile slurs and then starts giggling.

'Huh?' Nicky asks, eyes completely bloodshot and struggling to focus on her.

'Much smoke. Kitchen door. Good thing,' Booker explains.

'Why are you talking like Tarzan?' Nicky turns to him, genuinely confused and all three of them start laughing.

Nile is sandwiched between the two of them and she has no idea what the other conversation is about. She thinks it might be some version of _fuck, marry, kill_ , because Andy and Joe are heatedly debating the pros and cons of marrying Prince Harry, while Quynh is laughing so hard that every now and then she's wiping the tears from her eyes. At one point Nicky jumps in, siding with Joe, which means Quynh is now siding with Andy and they're all talking at the same time, sounding like a gaggle of geese on ecstasy.

Nile turns towards Booker, who's smiling and listening to the others argue and studies him surreptitiously. His blue eyes are just as bloodshot as Nicky's and his hair is sticking up in all directions because he's been dragging his hands through it incessantly. It's the fucking weed that's messing with her self-control because she really, _really_ wants to climb in his lap and shove her tongue in his mouth, which might not be the best idea.

'Have you discovered more grey hairs?' he asks without looking at her and Nile jolts in her seat.

'Not on this side,' she recovers pretty quickly, grabbing his chin and turning his head the other way. 'Nope, nothing new here either,' she says seriously and Booker laughs out loud.

'Admit it, you just like looking at me.'

'I do,' she smiles and watches his eyes widen a fraction and become infinitely warmer.

'Having fun?' he asks after a few moments.

'Mhm. But I'm ready for poker. Guys! GUYS! He's already married, so knock it off,' she exclaims and then starts laughing for no particular reason.

'What she means is that she'd like to play poker now,' Booker supplies helpfully.

'Thank you, sweetheart,' she giggles, casually placing a hand on his thigh.

She's getting touchy-feely and words are coming out of her mouth without any semblance of prior input from her brain and this is Lisbon all over again, except tonight she doesn't have Booker all to herself. The funny thing is that having the others witness how comfortable she and Booker are around each other and how many inside jokes they have is a bit thrilling and she feels entitled and possessive all of a sudden. Stupid weed and even stupider brain.

'Does Texas hold'em sound ok to you guys?' she asks, shaking her head as if to clear her mind.

They quickly go through the rules to make sure they're all on the same page, split the chips evenly and Nile shuffles the cards and deals the first hand.

If it were a serious game, they would all be as quiet as possible, making sure to hide any tells and keep a straight face. As it is, given the amount of alcohol and weed consumed, they're all loud and boisterous, cursing their cards or each other.

'This was a very good idea,' Quynh grins after winning the third hand in a row.

'Speak for yourself,' Nicky grumbles, eyeing his stack of chips that is considerably smaller than anyone else's.

'Oh, you poor baby!' Quynh coos, pouring another shot. 'Here, maybe this will make you feel inspired,' she smirks, pushing the glass towards him.

Nicky mutters something very quietly that makes Joe laugh, then downs the shot and shuffles the cards.

Surprisingly, it's not him that exits the game first, but Andy, who gambles all her chips on two pairs, only to be beaten by Booker's three of a kind.

'I fucking hate you!' she glares at him murderously. ' _Now_ what?'

'Now you get your dare and I know just the thing,' Nile says, giddy with excitement. 'Do you guys trust me?' she asks and when everyone else nods and hums in confirmation, she gets up from the table, stumbles to the bathroom and comes back with her makeup kit, which she deposits triumphantly in front of Andy.

'No, no, no, no! Don't even think about it!'

'You can't refuse,' Nile says and the others quickly back her up, so Andy has no choice but to give in.

'Fine. But I'm gonna hate every second of it,' she barks, crossing her arms and shooting daggers at all of them.

'We don't really care, boss. No offence,' Joe says. 'Nile, please make her look like a princess.'

'Duh! With blush and glitter and all that shit.'

'Why the fuck do you even _have_ glitter?' Andy all but whines, which is something Nile thought she'd never witness.

'Because you sent me to a mobster's son's posh wedding, remember?' she retorts. 'Now be still, I need to concentrate.'

When she finishes, Andy looks like fucking Cinderella, if Cinderella were preparing to go on a murder spree after the ball. She looks beautiful and the scowl on her face only brings the glitter out more. Everyone apart from Nile has their phones out, snapping picture after picture and snickering naughtily.

'So what am I supposed to do _now_?' Andy asks grumpily.

'You can roll another joint while we obliterate Nicky,' Quynh says sweetly.

And she's right, two more hands and Nicky is staring longingly at Nile, who's clearing the table of chips, including all of his.

'Here, sweetie,' she says, pushing another shot in his direction, struggling not to laugh and failing miserably.

'Nicky,' Quynh says, voice like honey, 'please recite a few lines from your favourite erotic poem that Joe's written for you.'

Nile has seen Nicky blush before but this one absolutely takes the cake. He's so flustered, blinking rapidly and mouth slightly open that she almost feels sorry for him. Joe, on the other hand, is grinning wolfishly.

'My soul, I'm _dying_ to hear what your favourite is.'

Nicky takes a deep breath but before he can start, Quynh cuts him off.

'I want pathos, Nicoló, not some monotonous droning,' and Nicky growls, narrowing her eyes at her.

_Spread your thighs,_  
_My most beloved,_  
_And welcome me into your heat._  
_And I swear_  
_I'll always be yours,_  
_Just like your heat is always mine._

He's even redder than before and he sounds very out of breath and when they all start clapping, he lets his forehead drop on the table.

'Next time we have sex I'm making you recite it,' Joe murmurs sensually, stroking Nicky's hair.

'Jesus, Joe, thanks for the mental image!' Booker complains.

'You're a big boy, you'll get over it,' Joe smirks.

'Andy, give me that joint,' Nicky says, snapping his fingers impatiently. 'The rest of you, get back to playing.'

Quynh and Joe exit together because they're reckless enough to go all in with a single pair and Booker trounces them with a flush.

'Here's what I want you to do,' he says, pouring each of them a shot. 'I want you to go to one of our neighbours, your call which one, and get them to give you a kilo of salt and some rope. You have twenty minutes,' he says, leaning back in his chair.

Nile has never seen this devilish look on his face and it sends shivers up and down her spine. She makes a mental note never to play any daring games with him again because she has no idea how the fuck he's come up with this one. 

'You twisted son of a bitch!' Joe mutters.

'The clock is ticking,' Booker smiles pleasantly, so Joe grabs Quynh by the hand and together they leave the kitchen. 'There will be a joint waiting for you when you return,' he calls after them.

'You really have a twisted mind,' Nicky says grinning.

'Why salt and rope?' Andy asks curiously.

'No idea. First things that came to mind.'

'Yeap, you're twisted.'

Fifteen minutes later, Joe and Quynh burst through the kitchen door, laughing heartily.

'Here you go,' Joe places the pack of salt and the length of rope in front of Booker and takes a bow.

'Aaw, you shouldn't have,' he mock-gasps. 'Your reward, kind sir,' he adds, handing Joe a brand new joint.

'Can we get the details?' Nile asks excitedly.

Joe shares a look with Quynh and they start laughing again.

'Fuck, no!' he says, lighting the joint. 'Come on, get back to the game, we need to crown someone the ultimate ruler of poker-while-wasted.'

'Looks like it's between you and me, darling,' Booker murmurs huskily.

At one point during the night he had ended up sitting directly in front of her and Nile watches as he rests his elbows on the table, crosses his hands and rests his chin on them. A few locks of hair are falling into his eyes, he's biting his lower lip and he looks so fucking hot that it's almost unbearable. She places her arms on the table and leans towards him, wetting her lips very slowly.

'I see what you're doing and it won't work,' she purrs, then pulls back and crosses her arms defiantly. 'Deal,' she says, tilting her chin towards the cards.

Booker laughs, pulls back too and starts shuffling.

'Ok, are we _really_ glossing over that little moment?' Joe asks disbelievingly.

'Yes,' Booker and Nile reply at the same time, then grin at each other.

'You're both so annoying! And just so it's clear from the very beginning, whoever loses has to do a quick striptease number,' Joe mutters.

'What?!' Nile gasps.

'The underwear stays on, obviously,' Joe elaborates.

'Nevertheless..'

'Are you afraid, darling?' Booker teases and Nile really wants to wipe the smirk off his face.

'When you lose, just remember that you asked for it,' she says, grinning when the others cheer and clap excitedly.

The first couple of hands they're both extra cautious, betting smaller amounts and folding a lot quicker than they normally would, much to the displeasure of the rest of the guys.

'With how many chips you both have, this is gonna take _forever_!' Joe whines when Booker folds for the third time in a row.

'Imagine my joy having to watch all of you for the past two hours,' Andy grumbles, pursing her now cherry red lips.

'Not my fault you didn't play your cards right,' Nile mutters, a look of intense concentration on her face. 'Pun intended,' she adds.

'Nice one, dearest. Did it take you a lot to come up with it?' Booker asks innocently.

'Fuck off, taunting me won't work!'

'Are you sure about that? You forget I know how to distract you,' he says, biting his lower lip again and staring straight into her eyes.

He's right, he _does_ know exactly what to do to make her breath hitch and her hand falter on the chips. Damn it, she's known for a long time that when he puts everything into it, he becomes completely irresistible and she still falls for it every single time. She loses the hand and flips him off annoyedly amid catcalls and cheers from the others.

'I've changed my mind, keep playing, this is _so_ entertaining!' Joe snickers.

'Yeap, like watching a peacock initiate a mating ritual,' Quynh adds seriously and then dissolves into laughter.

'You all suck!' Nile pouts, reaching for the lighter and the latest rolled joint.

It takes fifteen more minutes until they finally up the ante and by that time, there's a real bet involving money going on, regarding who will win the last hand. Andy, Joe and Nicky are all convinced that Booker has the upper hand, while Quynh just smiles encouragingly at Nile.

'I trust you,' she says confidently and Nile smiles back warmly.

'Ok, darling, ready to strip?' Booker winks, pushing all his chips in the middle of the table.

Nile lifts the corners of her two cards slowly, takes a good look at them, then at the community cards and rubs her chin thoughtfully.

'Oh, come on, it's not chess,' Nicky interjects, but Booker raises his left hand to stop him.

'Let her think about it. The stakes are quite high,' he says, voice like liquid velvet.

Nile takes a few more seconds, then pushes all her chips next to Booker's.

'Show me what you've got, sweetheart,' she says in a neutral tone.

There are two jacks and an eight among the community cards and Booker makes a show of revealing his hand, placing first an eight down and then the second.

'Full house,' he declares triumphantly, a sparkle of satisfaction in his eyes.

Andy, Joe and Nicky are all rubbing their hands excitedly and Nile sighs. This is gonna be extremely painful, she thinks, but what the hell, she's a grown ass woman, she'll survive.

She pushes her cards in the middle of the table, still facing down and watches Booker's grin grow impossibly wider. Then, with a sudden flick of the wrist, she flips them to reveal the other two jacks.

'Four of a kind,' she smiles and leans back, resting her right arm on Nicky's chair.

For the first three seconds the silence is deafening. And then, there's a roar of laughter from the guys, lots of cheering and enthusiastic clapping and Joe, seemingly out of thin air, produces a handful of confetti that he pours on Nile's head. Booker looks like he's in shock, eyes unblinking and mouth opening and closing at almost regular intervals.

'Joe, quick, take a picture! He looks like a fucking goldfish,' Andy cackles. 'You know what, I'm not even upset I lost the bet,' she adds, pulling a couple of banknotes from her back pocket.

'Quynh, my dear, I shall never doubt your instincts ever again,' Nicky sighs and hands her a roll of banknotes. 'For me and Joe,' he explains.

'Thank you, my heart,' Joe grins and pecks him on the lips, then turns to Nile. 'On behalf of all of us here, this loser included,' he says, pointing at Booker, 'I hereby declare you the queen of poker-while-wasted. Milady,' he adds, taking a deep bow, 'if you would be so kind as to choose a song for him to perform his number on.'

Booker seems to have snapped out of his stupor because he's now shaking his head and chuckling softly.

'I don't suppose I can ask you to have mercy on me,' he asks while Nile is browsing through Spotify, trying to decide what song to play.

'Nope,' she grins.

'Hold on, we need some adjustments,' Nicky says and gets up to turn the light off, replacing it with the one from the cooker hood. He then pours everyone another shot and lights what's left of the blunt, passing it to Nile and gesturing with his hand in a _whenever you're ready_ kind of way.

Booker gets up, pushes some of the chairs around to make some room and then starts buttoning up his short-sleeved shirt.

'I think you're kinda missing the point here, Book,' Andy laughs.

'It's not like I have too many things to take off, since we've agreed the underwear stays on,' he explains and Nile almost chokes, realising we would've had no qualms whatsoever about getting fully naked. 'It's a good thing I'm wearing boxers today,' he adds laughing and Nile feels like she's been set on fire.

She takes a deep breath, reminding herself that she's an adult and she can handle seeing him taking his clothes off one by one, extremely slowly and nope, this is _not_ helping, so she clenches her left fist and hits play.

The second he hears the first beat, Booker closes his eyes and shakes his head.

'You little fiend!' he chuckles because it's the exact same song they had danced on that night when they had made pancakes.

'It's a good song,' Nile shrugs. 'The floor is yours.'

Booker takes two steps backwards until he hits the wall and leans against it on one leg, the other folded casually. He wets his lips, closes his eyes and drags his left hand very slowly through his hair all the way to his nape. He then lets it slide down to his neck in a very light caress, moving to his collarbone, his chest and then all the way to his waistband. Once there, he bunches the shirt in his fist and bites his lip before starting the journey back up again.

'Mm, very nice, Book, keep going,' Andy laughs but Booker just ignores her, focused as he seems on his little performance.

'You're welcome,' Joe whispers close to her ear and Nile lets out a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding.

Meanwhile, Booker has started swaying and gently twisting his hips and when he reaches for the top button of his shirt, her mouth goes dry and she literally zones out. She can vaguely hear the others snickering and commenting but it's all just background noise because Booker has his eyes open now and he's looking only at her.

One by one the buttons fly open and when he starts pushing his shirt down his shoulders, Nile all but whimpers, grateful in the back of her mind for the music that manages to cover it. Booker dangles his shirt from his index finger for a few moments, lets it drop to the floor and then he starts dancing in earnest.

Nile has seen him dance before, hell, she's danced _with_ him but nothing could have prepared her for the absolute torture that follows. Booker is both graceful and arresting and the fascinating part is that there's nothing aggressive about the way he moves. It's like watching quicksilver, every shift of his body flowing seamlessly into the next and by the time he pulls his T-shirt over his head, eyes hooded and lower lip caught between his teeth, Nile is literally hyperventilating.

There are a million thoughts zooming through her head, each more filthy than the next and the one that keeps repeating is making him do this again when they get their shit together and upgrade from best friends or whatever they are right now. Nile knows it's a matter of _when_ , not _if_ and tonight is only speeding things along the way. And then, an even more torturous thought occurs: is this how he moves during sex? Fuck, she's barely got rid of the erotic dreams and now they're sure to come back in full force.

The sound of his belt unbuckling pulls her out of her thoughts and Nile knows he'd noticed she had gone somewhere inside her head because the second they make eye contact again, he winks and smiles naughtily. He starts unbuttoning his jeans and pushing them slowly down his hips and Nile thinks it should be fucking illegal for him to be this sensual while shimmying out of them. The song ends exactly when he steps out of them, so he spreads his arms wide, does a slow pirouette and then bows.

Andy whistles, Quynh claps and Joe and Nicky get up from the table, stalking towards him. Joe once again produces confetti out of nowhere and throws it at Booker, while Nicky shoves a couple of folded banknotes under the elastic band of his boxers, placing a hand on his chest and all but pressing himself against him.

'Would you be interested in making more money?' he murmurs sultrily and promptly starts laughing when Booker shoves his shoulder.

'No, thank you, but I'm keeping these,' he says, waving the banknotes around.

'You've earned it, honey!' Nicky says, kissing his cheek.

'And you,' Booker continues, turning towards Joe, 'do you have a confetti stash up your ass?'

'Wouldn't _you_ like to know,' Joe winks.

'Can I get dressed now? It's fucking cold here.'

'Do you need any help with that?' Andy asks and they all start laughing like idiots.

Booker just rolls his eyes, putting his jeans back on and pulling the T-shirt over his head.

'Is milady satisfied?' he asks grinning when he takes his place back at the table and Nile realises she's been awfully quiet throughout the entire thing.

'Thoroughly,' she grins back, thanking the entire universe that her voice isn't shaking and her poker face isn't as bad as it used to be a few years ago.  


\---

It's almost dawn when they decide to call it a night. Joe and Nicky have been making out for the past fifteen minutes, so they're the first to say good night and stumble out of the kitchen. Nile is fairly sure sleep is the last thing on their minds if the groping and tongue action are any indication. Not long after, Andy stretches and yawns loudly.

'Good choice, kid,' she smiles at Nile. 'Not sure if Joe can top it.'

'Andy, it's not a competition,' Quynh admonishes gently. 'Though if it were, Nile did do better than both of us,' she laughs. 'Bed?'

'I thought you'd never ask,' Andy grins, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards their bedroom.

'You can go to bed too, darling, I'll try and sort this mess out,' Booker laughs, surveying the kitchen.

There are shot glasses and regular glasses everywhere, at least three full ashtrays because none of them had bothered to clean the first one and empty pizza boxes because munchies.

'No, it's ok, I'll help,' she says and starts gathering the poker chips that are still spread all over the table.

It doesn't take more than ten minutes for the kitchen to go back to its normal state and when Booker starts washing the glasses, Nile hops on the counter next to the sink.

'Did you have fun?' she asks tentatively.

'Of course I did!'

'Even if you lost at poker?' she teases.

'Especially because I lost at poker,' he grins and Nile doesn't really know how to react to this admission but luckily, she doesn't have to because he carries on. 'Speaking of which, hats off, my dear, I am very impressed! I'll add it to my list of things I didn't know about you that literally blow my mind.'

'Yeah, well, I'm adding erotic dancing to _my_ list of "skills Seb has that completely take me by surprise",' she says, air-quoting the last part.

She watches Booker flush and focus intently on the sink, so she continues because fuck it, it's still dark outside and she's still not fully sober and why the hell not?

'I mean, the way you move is fucking mesmerising,' she says and feels her pulse accelerate within an instant.

Booker lifts his eyes to meet hers, looking like he's trying to decide what to say.

'It's all about having the right incentive,' he murmurs with a smouldering gaze.

Yeap, she's gonna dream about him tonight. Well, today. And _of course_ she's sharing a bed with him because apparently rooms in Thessaloniki are too small to fit more than one bed. Fucking great.

'You sleepy?' Booker asks, snapping her out of her mental rant.

'Not in the slightest.'

'Good. Come on, I have an idea,' he says, taking her hand and leading her out of the kitchen and into the hallway.

'Where are we going?' she asks in genuine confusion when he sees him put his sneakers on.

'Trust me, you're gonna love this.'

So she puts her flats on and follows him outside the apartment, doing a double take when instead of going down the stairs, he heads for the opposite direction.

'Seb?'

'Shh, don't wanna wake up the neighbours,' he whispers. 'Come on!'

In less than two minutes they're on the roof of the apartment building, overlooking the sea. The sky is already a light blue and most stars have already faded out.

'I thought we could watch the sunrise,' Booker says, sounding a bit self-conscious. 'I know how excited you were the last time.'

Nile just looks at him with wide eyes and she's never really believed in soulmates but fuck if he isn't hers, with all the good and the bad and everything in between.

'I know I've said it a hundred times but I feel like it will never be enough. You are absolutely amazing!' she grins, reveling in the radiant smile that lights up his face.

'And the ace up my sleeve,' he chuckles, pulling out a joint from his front pocket.

'Oh my god, did you actually hide that the entire night?' Nile giggles.

'Maybe,' he replies, completely proud of himself.

'You're unbelievable, I swear!'

'As I said, I live to serve you.'

\---

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who might be interested, the song Nile chooses for Booker's little number is [Snow White](https://youtu.be/hz8iwhc_SJQ) by Dennis Lloyd.
> 
>  _Espece de pèc_ is a mix between French and Occitan that would roughly translate to "fucking idiot" :D
> 
> You can also find me on [Tumblr](https://energievie.tumblr.com/) in case you wanna say hi :)


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